As Promised

It is going to take some time to get back into writing mode, so these next few blogs may end up awkward, LOL. Plus, my life is so chaotic right now between homeschooling 4 of the 6, working, and taking classes (One class alone is 30-50 hours homework a week), and just life in general. Throw in barreling towards menopause at break-neck speed, and I end up all over the place. So forgive me in advance.

Today is the first day back at school for my homeschoolers, so I am trying to set up a schedule with who gets the computer when and so on and so forth. So I just real quick wanted to post some pics of the family. I still don't have pictures of all the kids on my laptop, but I will post updates of Gisela (and Osmar Lenin), Andre, and Sendy later this week.

The kids and my (then 93 yr old - now 95!! - grandfather) late December 2015
when we were in Florida for my Grandmothers funeral.

Just a look how they changed that I made last year.

The youngest six in October 2016.
New pics will be done in September!!

 These kids drive me nuts, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The girls.
Isa, Mickey, Lana, and Ari.

The boys.
Levi, Isaac, and Johan.

In the picture above of the boys, that curly headed monster is my bubbs Isaac. That is Jordan's son. There are no words to describe the love that I have for that boy. As I sat here thinking of how to describe it, there really is no words to describe a grandmothers love. It is different than a mothers love. My favorite thing to do is just spend time with him. Well, when he isn't acting like a brat. Those days my favorite thing to do is send him home with his momma. LOL.

Whenever I went to do my schoolwork
This is what would happen. He
wanted to see what I was doing.

Looking at Indio Lempira on his shirt that GiGi (me)
brought him back from Honduras.

We love our snapchat sessions.

My favorite face. Ever. 

I guess if I am talking about my bubbs, I have to talk about his momma, LOL. Jordan is almost 20, and doing great. She is getting married this Friday to an awesome guy who I love, and who I am so happy to have join our family. He is so good for Jordan. She is somewhat high-strung, and he calms her down. He puts up with her moods, and loves her and loves Isaac. 

Rey after she said yes!!

Jordan and Rey.
I love them both.

My greatest wish is to have all my kids in one single picture. I don't know if that will ever happen. But until then, I have to be content with randomly pasting the faces of everyone that is missing.

 

All the kids in 1 single picture.

The kids aren't the only ones who have changed. I too have made a big change. All my life I have been fat. Not overweight, fat. The last few years in Honduras, as my ankle got worse and worse, I pretty much sat and did nothing all day. As in, I moved only to go to the bathroom, go from couch to hammock, to bed, type of did nothing. I will say though, my years in Honduras, with the exception of a short time that I randomly lost 60 pounds, my weight stayed somewhat constant. My average weight was 330, with it fluctuating between 320 and 340 at times. I had decided that since my medical insurance covered weight loss surgery, I was going to have a gastric sleeve done. I knew I had to do 6 months of supervised diet with the doctor, so I arrived October 10th, and by October 20th I had already seen the doctor for my first visit. I found out I was pre-diabetic, and my starting weight was 344 lbs. It took me until March though to get an appointment at John Hopkins Bariatric Clinic. By then I had managed to get to 325ish. The surgeon gave me the huge list of things that had to be done beforehand, and due to my arthritis and medications I am on, she wasn't sure if I was a candidate or not. One thing she said was, she wanted me to lose 50 pounds total. So I had another 35 pounds to go, before she would even consider me. I was upset because it had taken me sooooo long to lose those 20ish pounds, all I could think of was it'll be until next year before I get below 300. In my mind I was NEVER going to get to where I need to be to have surgery. My thought was - If I could lose the 50 pounds that easily, I wouldn't even be here, I'd be at home doing it.

But I took the papers, went home and kept on keeping on. I steadily lost a few pounds a month, and come May, after I had my first surgery to fuse my wrist, I went off prednisone.

Going off prednisone helped a bit, and even though the weight still came off slowly, it picked up a little bit. Then something just clicked. Losing the weight became - not really easy, but not so hard. My thought of - if I could lose that 50 pound so easy, I wouldn't be here to begin with, well that became true. I decided that I was going to do this myself for as long as it was working, and not go through the weight loss surgery. I mean this past year I have had 5 surgeries on my hands and feet, if I can save me another surgery then Im down, LOL.

As of this morning, I am down 105.8 pounds, and have less than 50 pounds to get to my goal weight. I haven't been for the last month due to car issues and my 2 week trip to Honduras, but I have been going to the gym as well. From someone who hates exercise, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the gym. I still hate cardio. I do 15 minutes of cardio on the bike to get my heart rate up, then I go for the weights. Never thought I would say it, but going there makes me feel good, it makes me happy.

This was me when we were in FL for my grandmothers funeral.
December 2015/Jan 216.
I was huge. I knew it, and had already decided to make a change.

My poor grandfather in the picture above. Squished between me and my brothers. Not one of us were small.

Below is a picture of me beside Andre, on the day of my grandmothers funeral. I had lost like 10 pounds by then. Although you couldn't tell. The right half is me trying on a dress I ordered for Jordans wedding. That picture was taken yesterday.

Mondays is weigh in day for me, and I took a moment to look at my achievement that I have done the last 18ish months. I almost never give myself recognition of what I have accomplished. I downplay it. I mean, when I hit goals, I post about it on FB and Instagram, but then I forget about it. But looking for pictures of the kids, I found these pictures, and it kind of shocked me. I mean I *know* that Im smaller, but seeing these pictures is always a *WOW* type of thing.

The goal progress is for my current goal. I would put 20 pound goals at a time.
This last goal though was a big one, and my last one. 

One thing about the picture above, the progress chart shows me that while I have had ups, the trend was down. It also shows that I have stuck with it, and that I am doing it. That I can do it. (This will be another blog, but since coming back, I have been working on reminding myself that I *AM* worth it. Because my life was on pause before hand. I didn't believe that I was worthy of much. Thanks to God though, I remember. I KNOW that I am.)